This invention relates to a machine for forming large cylindrical bales of crop material, commonly called round bales, in a roll forming region above the ground. More specifically, it is concerned with apparatus which permits the completed bale to be discharged from the roll forming region onto the ground by the automatic reversing of the bale forming means or upper apron.
Historically, it has been the custom to harvest forage crops by mowing the particular crop, letting it dry in the field, forming the dried crop material into windrows and passing a hay-baling machine over and along these windrows to form the crop material into rectangular bales. Recent practice has shown that the formation of crop material into large compact rolls, rather than rectangular bales as formerly done, permits the crop material to be deposited in roll form and left in fields for extended periods of time. The ability to leave these rolled bales in fields obviates the additional steps required in the traditional rectangular baling process of gathering the bales and transporting them to a storage area protected from the elements. This new technique of forming large round bales has created a baling system that can be conducted by one person. This is in marked contrast to the traditional practice of forming rectangular bales where the labor of several people was required to effect the cutting, drying, windrowing, baling, gathering and storing of the crop material.
Several methods of forming compact cylindrical rolls of crop material have evolved through the years. The most successful of these methods involves the forming of crop rolls by picking up a swath or windrow of material from the field and directing it onto a lower conveyor. This conveyor transports the material to a roll or bale forming region where an upper apron or flight of belts, usually positioned above and adjacent the conveyor, moves in a suitable direction to rotate the crop material with which it is brought into contact. The increasing popularity of these crop roll forming machines has seen their use broaden from rolling wintering forage for livestock to rolling high protein crops, such as alfalfa, for dairy livestock. Therefore, these machines are the focal point of many ideas for developing both labor-saving and time-saving apparatus.
Crop roll forming machines that produce large cylindrical crop rolls utilize some form of a tailgate which is pivotally mounted to the frame of the machine. The tailgate is elevated upon completion of the crop roll or when it is desired to discharge a less than full size bale for any of a variety of reasons from the roll forming region. The tailgate follows a predetermined arc of travel, generally pivoting about a fixed point on the frame.
Prior crop roll forming machines require the operator, who is located in the operator's area of a prime moving vehicle, such as a tractor, to perform a series of manual operations after completing the formation of the large crop roll and prior to recommencing the roll forming process or cycle. Generally these manual steps require the stopping of the roll forming machine and the towing tractor, the initiation of the wrapping of the completed crop roll, stopping the power takeoff shaft from the tractor, opening the tailgate, restarting the power takeoff shaft to power the roll forming machine's components to assist in discharging the bale, closing the tailgate and finally, restarting the forward motion of the tractor and the roll forming machine. Obviously, one way to save time is to reduce the number of manual steps which the roll forming machine operator must take after the completion of the formation of each bale.
The current commercial crop roll forming machines generally discharge the completed crop material package from the roll forming region either by pivoting the tailgate rearwardly and upwardly, thereby permitting the bale to drop directly onto the ground, or by first elevating the tailgate and then activating the conveyor lower apron which forms the lower limit of the roll forming region. In the latter case, the lower apron is activated by the operator's restarting the power takeoff shaft, which previously has been disengaged, thereby causing the bale to be urged rearwardly out of the machine and onto the ground. In both cases, since these large cylindrical compact bales can vary in weight from as much as 850 to 1500 pounds or more, quite frequently a bale comes to rest at a position which is within the arc followed by the tailgate when it travels from its open or raised position to its closed or shut position. This means that for both techniques of discharging a completed bale the discharged bale can interfere with the tailgate as it is closed prior to the machine's continuing across the field and initiating the rolling of another bale. In addition then to requiring the operator to take certain manual steps every time a completed bale is to be discharged, there is the additional time consuming possibility that the roll forming machine will have to be pulled forward so that the tailgate can close without having the completed crop roll interfere with its arcuate path of travel.
The foregoing problems are solved in the design of the machine comprising the present machine by providing drive means for discharging the completed crop roll automatically with the raising motion of the tailgate. The drive means impart a sufficiently powerful ejective thrust to the completed crop bale as it exits the roll forming region to enable it to generally roll clear of the arcuate path of travel followed by the tailgate as it closes. More importantly, the power takeoff shaft may continuously be operated during the entire bale discharging sequence, thereby obviating the necessity for the time consuming steps of cutting off the power takeoff shaft drive and then reengaging it prior to discharge of the completed bale and the recommencing of the roll forming process.